My Dinner With Ashley

As you may be vaguely aware of, I had a contest to have dinner with me at NWBB and Ashley won with one of the funniest things that I have ever read. It was mean, it was cruel, and it was awesome. Of course she won with something like that.

Earlier in the week, we had decided that Friday night worked for both of us. (Quick side note here: Last week, I posed a question wondering if anyone had ever had a dream and then operated on that dream as if it were reality. Well, it happened again this past week. I dreamed that I had made the reservation at New World and when I was thinking about it, I realized that it was "just a dream" and Patrick Duffy was still alive. Luckily, we were able to get a reservation for later than I wanted but for Friday nonetheless.)

It was a great dinner, for the record, and nothing was less than excellent.

Of course there were starters.

We went with the oysters of the day (I was talking with someone about oysters and beer earlier in the week and it was the only think that I had wanted) and a Caseula of Olives (which were divine). Ashley was drinking  a Pinot Noir and I started with a flight of four fairly hoppy beers.

For the mains, Ashley had the gnocchi of the day (with ramps) and the gnocchi (which is hard to do well and easy to screw up) was as good as I have ever had.

For my dinner, I decided to go with pizza and wings (I know, I was keeping it classy.)  I went with the Tie Dye Pie (with Purple Haze sauce)(an eight on the NWBB scale) and Oobe Chicken Wings (a five on the NWBB scale).  The pizza was spicy, almost too spicy after the first bite, and I warned Ashley that the heat sneaks up on you, but very well done.  The wings were excellent, but finding good wings, even gourmet wings in Albany is like finding water when you are in a boat.  Ashley was still drinking Pinot and I had decided on the NWBB Imperial 2X IPA.

For dessert, which I was not excited about, but...Ashley was. I went with a Chevre Truffle (dusted with chili and cinnamon).  Words can not describe how surprisingly tasty this was.

Ashley went with the Creme Brulee, which was well done.  I do not personally like Creme Brulee because more than once, the custard has been less custard and more scrambled eggs, which is not the consistency I prefer in a dessert.

Because it was a "date", I felt the need to share my truffle.  Ashley thought that my cutting it in half to share with her (without any prompting) was gentlemanly.  The funny thing about this is that she knows me well enough to understand that I am a superficial douche, but I also believe in fairness.

As you can see, the desserts went down easily.

It was one of the most enjoyable meals that I have had in a while. The food was splendid, the company was wonderful and it was a great experience on a spring Friday evening.

Special thanks to All Over Albany for the gift certificate!